© Copyright 2011 Julianne Dodds
Timber, Veneer and Plywood
1901 - 1969
Mac’s men
Over the years Mac had employed hundreds of mill
workers considering that, at one stage, he was
operating three mill companies at the same time.
Most of the men were labourers – Mac was
continually putting on ‘strong young lads’ under the
age of eighteen. Each mill had a foreman.
Under his charge were the tallymen (they selected,
measured and marked timber for cutting or delivery),
carpenters and joiners, wood turners, machinists for
pressing plywood, sawyers, sawyers assistants
(puller-out), saw doctors, stackers, sorters, loaders
and unloaders of sawn timber, and stationary boiler
operators.
As Mac also cut down his own timber, he also
employed fellers, teamsters and general sawmill
staff for his properties south of Brisbane. Apart from these labourers, there was an accountant, and
timber buyers appointed in all States of Australia. Mac believed in looking after his workers. He built and
bought houses close to the mills and rented them out to his employees and their families. These homes
were built with quality timber and lined with plywood from Mac’s mills. They were built to last.
Left: No. 12 Annie Street at Woolloongabba
in 1920. Photo from Williams Collection.
Above: The same house 90 years later.
The verandah has been closed in.
During the peak of his plywood production – Mac (centre middle row) and thirty-one
of his employees. The long buildings of Coorparoo Plywood Mills can be seen
behind the group. Williams Collection
Mill workmen in a custom made flatbed truck. c. 1923.
Williams Collection
One of his employees, James Gibb, who was a foreman and operated the mill lathes for many years
also worked as a handyman, repairing Mac’s house properties. His son, Bill, in later years was also
employed at the mill. Another yard foreman, Oscar Norton, was Mac’s father in law.
Mac’s plywood mill continued as a financial success, in spite of the post-war depression period. He had
designed most of the machinery for his mills. For a man of limited education, he was able to work out
the design and placement of lathes – a great engineering feat. For the construction of these lathes and
equipment, Evans Anderson, Phelan and Company at Kangaroo Point was appointed.
Mac also imported machinery from America including a Capitol seven foot veneer lathe that was
specially constructed to cut high-class figured veneers.
